Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn were constructed from 1774Hugh H L Bellot. Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. Methuen & Co Limited. London. 1925 . p 177. . to 1780. The architect was Sir Robert Taylor.Cherry and Pevsner. "Stone Buildings" in London 4: North. Yale University Press. 1998. Page 287. Stone Buildings is a Grade I listed building.List entries 1379318 and 1379319. Stone Buildings appear in Anthony Trollope's novel The Prime Minister.Nicholas Shrimpton (ed). "Explanatory Notes" in The Prime Minister. OUP. 2011. p 625.Hibbert, Weinreb, Keay and Keay. "Stone Buildings" in The London Encyclopaedia. 3rd Ed. Pan Macmillan. p 882.
Stone Buildings are so-called from the material with which they are constructed.Hughson, David. Walks Through London. 1817. No III. p 158 & 159. They were constructed in accordance with an ultimately unrealised plan to rebuild Lincoln's Inn entirely in stone. Their construction was the initial step in that plan.(1954) 218 Law Times 302 Google Books.
The working drawings were made by a young man called Leach, then a clerk in Taylor's office, who later became Master of the Rolls. Leach's drawings are preserved in the Library of Lincoln's Inn. Pitt's chambers appear to have been in Stone BuildingsWheatley and Cunningham. "Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn" in London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions. John Murray. Albemarle Street, London. 1891. p 319. Google Books. from December 1779.Reilly, Robin. Pitt the Younger 1759-1806. Cassell. 1978. p 46. Google Books. Canning's father was "for some time with a Serjeant Walker who then resided in Stone Buildings". The South end was added from 1844 to 1845 under the direction of Philip Hardwick.
Stone Buildings are situated parallel with the west side of Chancery Lane, and the western range of buildings faces the gardens of Lincoln's Inn and the square, with an oblong court between the two buildings. The Chancery Lane side is very plain, but the garden front consists of a rustic basement, with arcades and windows, at the north end of which is a wing consisting of six Corinthian pillars, which support an entablature and pediment. The cornice of the wing is continued through the whole length of the front, which terminates in a balustrade, but the two ranges of windows are entirely plain. The northern entrance is by handsome iron gates in Chancery Lane. The structure is not in keeping with the architecture of the other buildings; but, when viewed through the foliage of the garden, it has a very pleasing effect.Charles William Heckethorn. Lincoln's Inn Fields and the Localities Adjacent. E Stock. 1896. pp 53 & 54.
On 23 December 1790, by the violence of the wind at noon, the copper covering of the roof of the new buildings was blown off in one sheet, and hung over the front like a large carpet or mainsail. The noise occasioned by this accident made the neighbourhood conclude the building was falling down. Some of the plates composing this covering were torn off and carried into a yard in Holborn.Charles William Heckethorn. Lincoln's Inn Fields and the Localities Adjacent. E Stock. 1896. pp 54.
Sir Charles Wetherell had chambers in Stone Buildings. The Duke of Wellington took shelter there when he was attacked by a mobThomas Wright. The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent. George Virtue. Paternoster Row, London. 1837. Volume 5. pp 156 & 157. on 18 June 1832.George Robert Gleig and Alexis Henri Brialmont. The Life of Arthur, First Duke of Wellington. 1862. Page 522 et seq.Hurst. A Short History of Lincoln's Inn. Constable. 1946. p 32. Google Books.
The Registers' and Accountant-General's Offices were at 8, 9 and 11 Stone Buildings.William Paley Baildon. The Site of Lincoln's Inn. 1902. p 40.
The buildings are faced with Portland stone.Ireland, Samuel. Picturesque Views, with an Historical Account of the Inns of Court. 1800. pp 125 et seq.
The buildings that comprise Stone Buildings are numbered from 1 to 11. 1 and 11 Stone Buildings are opposite separate sides of 76B Chancery Lane. 7 and 8 Stone Buildings are opposite 10 to 12 Old Square."Lincoln's Inn". Location. Society of Lincoln's Inn.
2 Stone Buildings The Library of Lincoln's Inn was located on the ground floor of this building from 1755.Hugh H L Bellot. Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. Methuen & Co Limited. London. 1925 p 190. Samuel Ireland said that the valuable and extensive library was housed in an elegant suite of apartments, consisting of four rooms, three of which commanded a pleasant view of the gardens. In this collection (which included upwards of 8,000 volumes) were many rare and valuable books, in the most perfect condition. The excellent order in which they were ranged, and the extreme neatness that prevailed throughout the apartments, reflected great honour on those who had the superintendence of them.
There were two portraits in the principal apartment; that over the chimney-piece, to the left of the entrance, was well painted, and represented Sir Richard Rainsford, lord chief justice in the reign of Charles I.; the other, which hung between the windows, was a portrait of Sir John Franklin, master in ordinary of the court of chancery, who, by the inscription, appears to have died in 1707. There were, besides, some fine Italian drawings, and copies in miniature, of the celebrated Venus, by Titian, and other Italian masters. The second chamber contained some very good pictures; among which, that of the Virgin and Child appeared, in point of design, to possess no small degree of merit. Between the windows was a very singular three-quarter portrait, representing a handsome woman loosely attired, holding in her hand a bleeding heart, pierced through with a dart; in the background were two small figures, representing Mars and Venus; applicable, no doubt, to the subject of the picture, which seemed very ancient, and was extremely dirty; unfortunately the name of the lady was not known. The drawings, in this apartment, were by the same Italian masters, as those he before noticed. In this room there were also two large globes, apparently of Elizabeth's time; they were so much defaced as to be perfectly useless by 1800. There was also a three-quarter portrait in the third chamber, of the famous judge Hales, who bequeathed to the honourable society all his valuable manuscripts; and, in the fourth apartment, hung a good picture of the late Lord Mansfield, chief justice of the King's Bench and five old pictures, on the subject of Christ at Emmaus. In an alcove, at the further end of this room, stood a beautiful marble bust of the great Cicero. There were also several pictures, of whose merit nothing could be ascertained, as they were totally obscured with dirt.Ireland, Samuel. Picturesque Views, with an Historical Account of the Inns of Court. 1800. pp 157 et seq. The Library was removed from this building in 1845.Spilsbury, William Holden. Lincoln's Inn; Its Ancient and Modern Buildings: with an Account of the Library. W. Pickering. 1850. p 85.
Arthur Cayley lived here.Ioan James. Remarkable Mathematicians: From Euler to Von Neumann. Cambridge University Press. Page 144. The United Law Clerks Society was here.(1907) 79 House of Commons Papers 175 Google Books. Law firm Edwin Coe is the current occupant.
3 Stone Buildings James Kenneth Stephen had chambers in this building.Deborah MacDonald. The Prince, His Tutor and the Ripper. McFarland. 2007. Pages 85 and 87.H S. "Introduction" in Lapsus Calami and Other Verses. Macmillan and Bowes. Cambridge. 1898. Page viii.(1889) 9 Cambridge Review 46; Supplement to the Cambridge Review (2 November 1887) page xx ; (1887) 4 Oxford Magazine 50 ; (1887) 19 Journal of Education 496 . The basement of this building became the address of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting on 16 May 1951, and their office was in this building."1951: The Law Reports of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting: Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division" P i
It currently houses Three Stone, the Chambers of John McDonnell QC, which is a merger of two chancery-commercial chambers in Lincoln's Inn: Thirteen Old Square Chambers and 3 Stone Buildings.
4 Stone Buildings Pitt the Younger had chambers here.Arthur St. John Adcock. Wonderful London. Fleetway House. 1926. vol 2. p 208. Google Books.
There is on the west front of 4 Stone Buildings, facing the garden and just outside the chambers formerly occupied by Pitt, a sundial bearing the inscription "Qua Redit Nescitis Horam", which means "you know not the hour in which he returns". This sundial previously stood on an old gable in Old Buildings, Lincoln's Inn. It was put in its present place in 1794, during Pitt's Treasureship, at which time it was repainted and further inscribed "T. the Rt. hon.ble W.P." It was restored again in 1848. From the different situation of its plane, it only shows the hours from noon till night. During the Second World War, it only just avoided being destroyed by bombs which fell on Stone Buildings.
5 Stone Buildings Sir Charles Wetherell MP resided here.A Key to Both Houses of Parliament. Page 300. The editorial office of The Law Times was here.(1949) 208 Law Times 33 & 122 Google Books. In July 1918, the Bar Council acquired new offices at 5 Stone Buildings, of a character more suitable to the duties they were called upon to discharge. It had been found impossible to obtain equally suitable accommodation in the Temple; but it was hoped that the advantages of the new premises would counterbalance any inconvenience which might be felt by a section of the Bar in consequence of the removal from the Temple. The furniture and fittings of the new premises were presented to the Bar Council by their then chairman, Mr P. O. Lawrence KC. The thanks of the council to the donor were expressed and recorded in a resolution dated 11 November 1918.
5 Stone BuildingsHomepage: 5sblaw.com is a barristers' chambers. It currently comprises 42 members, of whom ten are King's Counsel, whose specialisations include private client, estate planning, tax, probate disputes, partnership, property litigation, professional negligence, pensions and other chancery related commercial matters. The chambers are ranked highly in the legal directory Chambers and Partners.
6 Stone Buildings The Chancery Subpoena Office was here.James Elmes. A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs. Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot. Ave Maria Lane, London. 1831. Page 112.Capper, B P (compiler). The British Imperial Calendar for 1811. London. Page 218. From 1941, the office of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting was here."Another Letter from London" (1941) The Bar Bulletin, vols 12 and 13, p 302 (Bar Association of the City of Boston). "1941: The Law Reports of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting: Probate Division: Courts of Probate Divorce and Admiralty" P Willing's Press Guide 1948. Willing's Press Service. Volume 75. Page 137. Google Books"1949: The Law Reports of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting: House of Lords, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and Peerage Cases" AC i Google Books Sir Thomas Manners Sutton, then Solicitor General, was here."Useful Tables" (1803) 1 The Law Journal 97 at 98
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